Author: Lorie Dunn
Planning Unit: Grant County CES
Major Program: Nutrition and Food Systems General
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
With Covid-19 shutting down in person classes, the Grant County Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) Assistant along with the Family Resource Center Director at Sherman Elementary decided to offer a Virtual Youth Group via Zoom. Since 21% of children in Grant County live in poverty and 100% of children at Sherman Elementary receive free lunches, the family resource center provided the groceries needed to prepare curriculum recipes. Thirty youth and their parents met with the SNAP-Ed Assistant and the Family Resource Director for the classes and 26 completed the series. Sherman’s ESL (English as a Second Language instructor) attended the classes as well to assist with Spanish speaking families. Classes were offered in the evenings to allow parents/guardians to be home with the youth. Classes from the Professor Popcorn Curriculum were covered as well as knife skills, measuring skills, reading recipes, My Plate, physical activity, kitchen and food safety. Calendar recipes were chosen which included foods provided by the local pantries in May. Pairing specific recipes with foods received in food pantry boxes helped families try out and prepare healthy nutritious meals for their families. As a result of the classes, 92% of children improved their abilities to choose foods according to the Federal Dietary Recommendations, 69% improved their physical activity practices, and 50% used safe food handling practices more often. One participant stated “It was fun to cook with my friends over Zoom, it was a lot more fun than our regular classes!” One of the parents stated, “We loved cooking as a family and having dinner ready when we were done, I learned as much as the kids.”
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